The .za Domain Name Authority (.zaDNA) today launched a public consultative process around the South African country code top level domain name (.za).
Making the announcement at a press conference in Johannesburg yesterday, .zaDNA chairman Dr Hasmukh Gajjar said the process, which falls under the auspices of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002, is ready for public engagement.
This is the first step in the process to finalise the za model, as .zaDNA seeks to implement an optimal structure for the za domain name space, taking into account the specific needs of the country.
Gajjar said the authority would also embark on an educational drive to close a "knowledge gap" that exists not only in regard to access to technology, but also in respect of knowledge about technology.
"The challenge is to close this gap, as we would like to have meaningful discussions with our stakeholders," Gajjar said.
He explained that the educational drive would most likely be informal and would be conducted with the involvement of a number of as yet unnamed organisations.
[VIDEO]"Since intimate knowledge on the workings of a domain name space is possibly limited, the authority is seriously considering how best to promote awareness and understanding of this subject."
As such, said Gajjar, the authority is reluctant to commit to a timeline for the public consultation process, but admitted there is a likelihood that it would be wrapped up by November or December.
Minister of communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, who attended the press conference, told journalists that the za domain name space issue had initially threatened to divide the sector, but eventual consensus was reached on the way forward.
Authority member Michael Silber pointed out that .za sub-domains (gov.za, org.za and ac.za) are administered by different organisations, while a more typical model would be for the administration of sub-domains to be handled by a single, central registry.
Policy options
The authority is considering various policy options regarding the registry model to be used for .za sub-domains. Key to this consideration is whether there should be a single registry for all sub-domains or whether competing registries should be licensed.
In 1991, the responsibility for the management of the .za country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) was delegated to a tertiary education networking project, called Uninet.
The Uninet project set up a basic structure for second-level domains and guidelines for the establishment of new second-level domains. Subsequently, several new second-level domains were added, and the responsibility for the administration of most of these was delegated to a number of different organisations and people.
When the Uninet project came to an end in 2000, no appropriate alternative body existed to which the responsibility for the .za ccTLD could be re-delegated. The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act provided for the establishment of the .zaDNA, and gave the authority the responsibility for administering and managing the .za domain name system.
The authority is also mandated to license and regulate registries and registrars, and develop policy for the South African domain name space. There are several potential registry/registrar models that can be used for the South African ccTLD.
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